Can Woods continue amazing win streak?

World Golf Championships - CA Championship

The dominance of Tiger Woods has left even his fellow pros watching in awe.

March 20, 2008|By Jeremy Fowler, Sentinel Staff Writer

So maybe Tiger Woods has caught a couple of breaks during this mythic streak of play.

Vijay Singh's third-round 73 last week at Bay Hill. J.B. Holmes not closing him out at the World Match Play Championship. Ernie Els finding water in Dubai.

But mostly through sheer dominance, Woods is approaching legendary status. Woods will look for his sixth consecutive PGA Tour victory -- and his 65th career Tour win, which would break a tie with Ben Hogan for third all time -- starting today at the CA Championship in Doral.

"The fields are getting better, and he's still doing this," said Sean O'Hair, who played with Woods in the final round at Bay Hill. "We're witnessing something pretty phenomenal right now."

Woods made a 24-foot putt on Sunday to defeat Bart Bryant by one stroke in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The last time he lost was in early September to Phil Mickelson in the Deutsche Bank Championship.

History says Woods likely will enter the Masters next month riding six consecutive victories. Woods, who says sweeping all four majors is "easily within reason," won last year at Doral for the fifth time in his past six tries.

Woods has had PGA Tour winning streaks of seven in 2006-07 and six in 1999-2000, but he said recently he is swinging better than ever. Byron Nelson holds the record streak with 11 victories in a row in 1945.

Woods has produced the best scoring average (66.35) of his career by more than a stroke so far this year. Woods has accomplished this despite his 154th Tour ranking in driving accuracy (57.14 percent), validating the worth of his shot-making skills and short game. Woods is first in greens in regulation (75 percent) and putting average (1.685).

Bryant said not everyone truly appreciates Woods' record pace.

"I think true golf fans who understand the game understand the magnitude," Bryant said. "I think the golf public in general doesn't get it, to be honest. Because what he's doing right now, I mean, you can't even hardly fathom it. You can't explain it."

For Woods, preparation and precision seem to trump momentum entering a key stretch of the season.

"It's nice having positive feelings going into an event, but it starts anew," said Woods, who has won eight of his past nine starts. "One of the greatest things about our game is, if you're playing poorly, the week is over, you get to go down the road and tee it up again and give yourself another opportunity to win."

Woods said he couldn't have dreamed when he started his career he would tie Hogan at 64 victories. Certainly not this quick, he said.

When asked what could stop him at this point, Woods said, "The rest of the field."

"[Winning is] why you work all those tireless hours," Woods said. "It's why you get up at 0-dong-30 and log your miles, bust your tail in the gym. There's a reason why [it's good] to be in that position right there to fail or succeed. . . .